In a united stance against child labour, key stakeholders in Ondo State, Nigeria, on Tuesday, came together to mark the World Day Against Child Labour 2025, with a call to action to end this exploitative practice, pledging collective action to eliminate this harmful practice.
BusinessDay reports that this year’s celebration, with the theme; ‘Progress is clear, but there’s more to do; let’s speed up efforts,’ which was organised by the International Labour Organisation through the Accel 11 project sponsored by the government of the Netherlands, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Ondo State Government, and Save the Children, in collaboration with the Ondo State Steering Committee on the elimination of child labour had students, community and institution leaders, CSOs, journalists amongst others in attendance at a gathering in Akure, the Ondo State capital.
In her opening remarks, Olanike Mogboruko, the Ondo State controller, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, also the chairman of Ondo State Steering Committee on the elimination of child labour, said Nigeria has made laudable progress on tackling child labour, through the implementation of robust policies, community outreach and inter-agency collaboration.
She, however, acknowledged that vulnerable children across our farms, markets, workshops and streets are still exposed to hazardous labour conditions, which calls for a renewed and more vigorous approach.
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Mogboruko noted that the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment remains committed to the enforcement of child labour laws, especially under the framework of the National Action Plan for the elimination of child labour in Nigeria (2021-2025).
Speaking on behalf of the ILO, Celine Oni, the national project coordinator for the ILO ACCEL Africa Project Phase 2 said; “at the International Labour Conference which held in Geneva, Switzerland, about two weeks ago, the ILO and UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Education Fund) following research, launched new Global Estimates on child labour which showed that; in the last four years, the number of children in child labour and hazardous work, reduced from 160million to about 138million, meaning that the number of children in child labour and hazardous work has reduced considerably by over 22million.
“The good news is that all regions made progress in Latin America, there was a drop of 11 per cent and in Sub-Saharan Africa, where Nigeria belongs, Child Labour prevalence fell from 23.9 to 21.5 percent.
“According to the data, agriculture remains the largest sector for child labour, accounting for 61 per cent of all cases, followed by services, domestic work and selling goods in markets, then industry, including mining and manufacturing
“This means that the work we are doing to eradicate child labour is having a positive impact, and we must accelerate efforts to institute zero tolerance for child labour in our cocoa farms, other relevant sectors and in our society
“While we strive to achieve the SDG Target 8.7, which focuses on ending Forced Labour, Modern Slavery, human trafficking, and the worst forms of child labour, including the recruitment and use of child soldiers. We should aim to secure the prohibition and elimination of all forms of child labour by 2025.
“As an Alliance 8.7 Country, we must leverage the global partnership fostering multi-stakeholder collaboration to support the government in achieving target 8.7 of the SDG Agenda 2030.
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“Children should be in classrooms or playgrounds, not at work. We must speed up efforts to end child labour because the consequences can be devastating, with harmful health impacts.
Speaking at the event, Ondo State Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, who was represented by his Special Adviser on Health, Simidele Odimayo, said: “We are committed to eliminating child labour in our dear Sunshine State, as we are trying to create an environment for the quality education and development of our children.
“For us to combat child labour, our government in line with EASE agenda has implemented several key initiatives which include; education for us, ensuring that every child has the opportunity to attend school, we have also facilitated the employment of teachers, renovation of schools, payment of WAEC education for our children, provision of schools materials and adequate security to make our education system and institutions safe and secured. We’ve also invested in vocational training for our youths.”
While Gbenga Fasua, the Chairman, Akure South Local Government Area, who spoke on behalf of other chairmen in Ondo State, said: “More should be done in the area of awareness to avoid exploitation of the rights of the people. We need to expand this awareness to the entire communities of Ondo State.”
